The sextant has a partly black-lacquered brass folding frame, which also serves as the handle. The two struts are pivoted and act by a collar sliding on a third pivoted arm. There is no tangent screw and the clamping screw is on the front of the frame. The instrument has no shades. Index- and horizon-glass adjustment is made by capstan screws. The lower, half index glass, allows the observer to view a small bubble tube in order to keep the instrument properly levelled. The sextant has a fixed cylindrical telescope tube. The sight-tube is 43mm in length. A hinged compass, with a diameter of 50 mm, is fitted to the left strut and is graduated to points, and per quadrant in degrees. The bubble level is adjusted by capstan screws fitted on the left strut.

The instrument has an inlaid silver scale from -5° to 140° by 1°, measuring to 120°. The sextant has a silver vernier reading to 15 arcminutes, with zero at the left.

The sextant has no box.

Thomas James Rickford patented this surveying instrument (no. 9082 of 1909), that was accepted in 1910. It can be used to measure horizontal and vertical angles and the measured angle may be protracted in actual reading off without the use of a protractor.